Friday, July 15, 2005

The Tennessean reports on tonight's professional soccer match between two Mexican rivals: last year's nationally ranked No. 2 team Tecos and their long-time rival, Atlas. The story notes that Atlas hired away Tecos' head coach less than a month ago, and sponsors estimate a crowd of 15,000 at the Coliseum in Nashville, where the Tennessee Titans play.

"[T]he competitive fires were stoked that much higher less than a month ago when Daniel Guzman — the coach who'd led Tecos from a ranking of 16 to 2 and guided the team into the national championship last season — left the organization to become coach at Atlas."

"'A lot of teams might feel like it's OK to tie or lose in an exhibition game, ... but these teams never play like it's an exhibition."

"'Atlas is famous for a style of play where everyone touches the ball, like the Brazilians. Tecos is more aggressive and hard-charging.'"

Tecos is returning to Nashville for the first time since its match last year at the Coliseum against Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy. Approximately 11,000 fans came to that game.